POSSIBLE IMPOSSIBILITIES
Lesson 2: Tuesday, July 12, 9:45-10:15
Impossible to Make Ends Meet - Money Management
“It is impossible to make enough money to survive, let alone accumulate any wealth.” “I may never have a good job and be able to live on my own!” “I cannot have a successful life without as much education as I can get, even if it means accumulating massive debt which I may never pay off.” “God wants me to be healthy, wealthy and wise. When is that going to start? Money management will never be possible for me!”
In the economy that exists today, it is understandable that young people growing up now would rightly consider that ever having enough to enjoy life is an impossible dream that they may never see. And, it is probably true that with our government and nation having spent so much and accumulating so much debt, we are probably in for some unbelievably difficult times ahead economically. But, as bad as things are or as bad as they might be, I think it is still possible to apply some spiritual principles to our management of money that will make this impossibility far more possible for those of us who trust in Jesus.
It goes without question that money and how we deal with it is important to God. Many, many scriptures deal with how we look at money and how it affects our lives. Of course, we do not shun from talking about the Scriptural need to give a tithe, 10% of all God blesses us with, back to Him. There is no shortage of examples and testimonies of saints who tell us that if we put God first by giving from our “first fruits” He will always bless us in return. Of course, there is also no shortage of individuals who fill the television channels with the great work their ministries are doing and how they cannot survive without our donations and giving. Some of them lose me, however, when they start bragging about how the Lord has blessed them with Gulfstream jets and wants to bless us too if we will just give so they can buy another jet. There have always been charlatains who have deceived “even the elite” by getting them to send in money for good causes.
Dave Ramsey has made great progress helping Christians learn to manage their money and get out of debt for many years now. It is beyond the scope of this youth camp lesson to go into his teaching, good as it is. However, it is not unreasonable to suggest, from Scripture, that there are some very good principles that the Word provides us on how to approach money management as servants of the Lord. Here are a few.
Principle 1: We must not love money! “The love of money is the root of all evil.” We all know this. We know that it has often been quoted that love is the root of all evil, and we know that this is not true. If we study the Scriptures in Timothy that Paul was writing however, we see that our whole attitude needs to be one that is very much NOT about seeking gain. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.” I Tim 6:6-11
Contentment is a principle we don’t hear preached about much in our culture. Everything around us tells us we can’t be happy if we don’t have MORE. More of everything. We are definitely a consumer culture and we aren’t happy unless we are constantly being supplied with more to consume. Paul says we ought to learn to be content even if all we have is food and clothing. Trouble comes when we start desiring to be rich. The strong indication is that the more we desire to be rich, the less we can have those things we really should pursue, righteousness, godliness, love, etc. One version of Hebrews 13:5 says, “Be free from the love of money; content with such things as you have.” Christians need to be content, not pursuing more riches and gain!
Principle 2: We must learn to not be debtors to debt. In our society, almost everything we try to have of great wealth comes from assuming debt. We cannot purchase a house without assuming years of debt. Our Federal Government is the absolute worst example of this, spending more than $1 Trillion more than they take in in taxes every year. Our national debt is now over $20 Trillion, most of which will never be paid. Steadily increasing debt is the surest way to making management of your finances impossible. Christians should not have excessive credit card debt, especially since most of what it is spent on is of useless value to us. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” We make ourselves slaves to those we come into debt to. This usually leads to further areas of slavery in our lives which Christians should avoid by just not going into debt. One of the key things Dave Ramsey gets Christians to do is sacrifice financially until they can pay down their debts and become totally debt free. Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives.” We cannot give when we are deep in debt. If we want to make management of our finances possible again, we have to strive to be free from debt.
Principle 3: We must learn to trust the Lord with our finances. We have to remember that it all belongs to Him! Jesus taught in Matthew 6 that “No man can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and money.” His lesson goes on to address the issue of excessive worrying over the troubles of this life, but it distinctly ties to our attitude about all things, including money. He says, “Look at the birds of the air…your Father feeds them. Why worry about clothing….if God so clothes the grass of the field will He not much more clothe you?” “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Whether we are wealthy or poor, we need to remember as Christians that it all belongs to him and we will not take any of it with us. We don’t have to look very far to see very wealthy people who are absolutely miserable and without any peace. It is not right for Christians to so tightly hold onto money, whether they think they have enough, that they cannot have the joy of giving to others. Yet that seems to be so true. The Scripture tells us that a “fool and his money are soon parted.” When we are foolish with what God has entrusted to us, look to lose it. It is all His, we just need to believe that and act like it.
Principle 4: We have to learn to be good stewards of what He gives us. The parable was about “talents” but the application is directly related to the money, possessions and responsibilities that the Lord puts into our stewardship. We find that it is far more important what we do with what God blesses us with than it is how much he gives us. We also know that a servant who has been entrusted with anything who then wastes it or does nothing with it is punished and loses it all. Christians should be the best “budgeters” in the world, partly because we recognize the responsibility of stewardship, but also because we know the Lord blesses it when we do it well. Frivolous, irresponsible spending should not be the hallmark of a Christian. Instead, seeing that God blesses wise, shrewd and prudent investment of what he trusts us with, we should do everything to make sure it provides a return and builds into more. Yes, to whom much is given much is required. But also, to whom He gives and finds His investment profitable, I have always learned that He then trusts with more. If we find that God isn’t trusting us with much, we might be wise to examine how we are handling what He has already given us.
Principle 5: We need to develop an “eternal” view about finances. We cannot be crippled by our past abuses. We must plan for a future. But, we must trust the results and His provision for us to Him! I have never “found the righteous hungry and begging for bread.” I also, however, tend to see the most faithful people not being the world’s richest. I think that is because they learn that all we have and all we spend needs to be done so with a perspective to how it affects the Kingdom.
Jesus commanded us to “lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven” (Matt 6:19) We tend to spiritualize this verse too much. No, I don’t think that $100 invested in a mission in Durango, Mexico is going to result in dividends compounded through the centuries to equal $1,000 in heaven. I’m pretty sure the Lord doesn’t deal in American dollars anyway. What I do know is that $100 invested in the Lord’s work in Durango will probably see children come to know Jesus as their Savior and that in heaven, we will be rewarded for whether or not we had the heart to do with the money Jesus trusts us with exactly what He wants us to do. I know that if we choose to invest in the Kingdom (however the Lord tells us to do so), that any loss we experience by losing money for a hamburger, a house or another car so that God’s work can be done will incur no loss, but ultimate reward. I have never found investment of my riches (they are really His after all) into the work that God is doing around me to have been wasted. Quite the opposite, it provides better return than any mutual fund or stock I might invest in otherwise.
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